Schmeisser MK-36,II - The Mechanics of the MP40
Germany
•
13m
The German military began looking for a new submachine gun design in secret in the mid 1930s. There is basically no surviving documentation, but the main contenders appear to have featured: Hugo Schmeisser's MK-36,II and Erma's EMP-36. Today we are taking a look at the two known examples of the Schmeisser design at the British Royal Armouries. It is a simple blowback design with a full wooden stock, and chambered for 9x19mm (although the second example, made for Hungarian trials, is in 9x25mm). It does have a quite strange magazine safety, which prevents the bolt from opening if a magazine is not present - the purpose of this is a mystery to me.
The Schmeisser gun was simple and effective mechanically (expect for that weird safety), and it ultimately contributed its magazine, bolt, and fire control system to the MP38 and MP40 design. In exchange, the Haenel company that Schmeisser works for was one of the two initial MP38 manufacturers.
Many thanks to the Royal Armouries for allowing me to film and disassemble this unique prototype! The NFC collection there - perhaps the best military small arms collection in Western Europe - is available by appointment to researchers:
https://royalarmouries.org/research/national-firearms-centre/
You can browse the various Armouries collections online here:
https://royalarmouries.org/collection/
Up Next in Germany
-
HK G11 Disassembly & How It Works!
In this special episode Matt has the privilege of field stripping a Heckler & Koch G11. He strips the rifle down into its major assemblies and then explains how the 'space magic' works!
Matt explains how the recoil management system, that compensated for the recoil of firing a 3-round burst at ...
-
H&K MG4: Germany's New 5.56mm Squad M...
Heckler & Koch released the MG4, a new 5.56mm squad machine gun in 2001. It was adopted by the German army in 2005, and then by the Spanish and Portuguese armies in 2007. Alongside its sister weapon the 7.62mm MG5, it is H&K's current export machine gun.
The MG4 fires from an open bolt, with a 2...
-
The 14th century Tannenberg handgonne...
Follow Capandball as he is going after the story an importance of the Tannenberg handgonne, the only properly dated 14th century European handgun we know about today. He covers its history, importance, but also a lot more. Gives insight to the accessories used in the 14th-15th century, and invest...
